Because what the wine doesn’t drown, the sun bakes out of you.
The vacation actually started Wednesday for me (and Sophie). The two of us went to see the Dead in Charlottesville. We had great seats. Couldn’t really shoot the show, my little travel camera can’t handle low-light situations, and who wants to be playing with a gadget while the music plays the band?
The set list was hot. First Set: New Speedway Boogie, Bertha, High Time, Mason’s Children, Big Boss Man, Doin’ That Rag, Standing on the Moon. Second set, Playin’ in the Band into probably the longest Crazy Fingers ever (the intro alone was like 4-5 minutes long) into a big powerful drums into an introspective space into St. Stephen into The Eleven into a cool Half-Step complete with vocal fun at the end, back into Playin’. Close out the set with Foolish Heart and encore with Gloria. Some older guys drank too much in the row in front, and one of them was yelling during space that Jerry never would have done that. I guess he hasn’t been to a show since, what, the 70s? Someone closer to him asked him to quiet down at one point. I think he had just a bit too much to drink. Booze tends to elevate opinions while dampening actual thought processing.
The show let out at about 11:45, and we didn’t get home until 2AM. Sophie did remarkably well at staying awake the whole time without much complaining, despite not being used to the noise, the crowds or the late hour.
Thursday (at 5AM!!) we drove to St. Augustine (11 hours of driving). Hotel room on the ocean, with a swimming pool and a hot tub, but it was a bit too windy to enjoy the ocean just yet. Spent some time in the hot tub with the girls…
Then we called it a night. The next morning, we checked out and headed up to Castillo de San Marcos to meet our friends, who were ending their vacation in Melbourne Beach as we were beginning ours. We spent the day with them exploring the fort and historic downtown St. Augustine, then had lunch at Santa Maria on the water, which gives window seat diners access to trapdoors with which you can drop pieces of bread to feed the catfish and pelicans down below. Quite fun for the kids, and the food wasn’t bad either.
Here’s a photo of the fort volunteers re-enacting the cannon drill, in full dress with full authenticity minus cannonballs.
After separating from our friends, we visited the Grateful Letterbox: Blooming Like a Red Rose box in a park in suburban St. Augustine, then began the four-hour drive over to my dad’s place on the Gulf Coast.
Monday was spent visiting a friend in Sarasota, checking out the Ringling Museum of Art. The museum is filled with very large paintings, many by Rubens, and a multitude of sculptures. The home sits right on the water and is absolutely astounding. Cocktails are held there, open to the public, ever third Thursday evening. We didn’t get around to it, due to the other activities, and, well, relaxing, eating and drinking.
Tuesday was our shopping day. Eve bought lots of good wine, I picked up a bottle of Laphroaig 15-year-old Scotch. I had previously had several bottles of their 10-year, and heard their 15-year was that much better, so I had to try it. WOW. New favorite. Along with the Sancho Panza cigars, rated 93 by Cigar Aficianado.
Wednesday, I spent a while with my father at the shooting range at Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area. Imagine an outdoor shooting facility with four separate ranges (pistol, 50-100 yard rifle, 100-200 yard rifle, and shotgun) that only costs $3 to enter.
Thursday and Friday, we spent time at the Gasparilla State Park beach on Boca Grande. On Thursday, a group of manatees were playing in the surf just a few feet from the water’s edge. Nobody was swimming, partly because the pass has very fast currents, and partly because the tarpon that enjoy those fast currents also attract large sharks. The water is alive with large creatures with large teeth. One fisherman just up the beach from us kept catching bonnethead sharks.
Friday was the first day we had recovered sufficiently from the travel (and the Dead show) to enjoy the sunrise, just a few houses down where my father’s street meets the river.
We did a lot of fishing, the girls and I kept catching catfish. Nobody really wanted to clean them, so we threw them all back.
Saturday we drove home. I am proud to say that I did ALL of the driving. All fifteen hours of it. No trade-offs.
